A flexible bag transport systems for moving a flexible foil pouch through an opening station, a filling station and a closing station is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,424, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Such transport systems have clamping assemblies to hold the pouches taught and to permit the foil pouches that are filled with beverages to be opened and closed as the flexible bags are transported through the filling station.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,424 describes a typical transport system wherein two clamping assemblies engage the pouch collaterally by clamping the side scams of the pouch on each side in order to hold the pouch firmly as the pouch is transported to each of the handling stations. These clamping assemblies have a distance relative to each other which is precisely selected to the width of the pouch from side seam to side seam so that the pouch extends between the two clamping means without any slack so that the side seams are pulled apart to make the pouch taut on a straight line. This causes the pouch to be closed on the upper transverse side of the pouch extending from side seam to side seam so that the front side and rear side foils of the pouch remain closed and can be welded or sealed together.
For filling purposes, the holding clamps move toward each other so that the front side panel and the rear side panel of the foil pouches undergo an outward bend to define an opening for permitting access to the opening for filling the pouch. After the pouch is filled, the holding clamps move apart from each other so that the front and rear side of the foil pouches are again held taught in a closed position for subsequent welding of the closed panels at the top edge thereof.
Heretofore in systems where the pouches are suspended by holding clamps, the movement of the holding clamps toward each other and away from each other is controlled automatically by a guide crank or cam and cam follower respectively. In order to achieve the proper handling, opening and sealing it is important that the distance between the holding clamps of the pouch are precisely registered with the width of the pouch to allow a precisely controlled closing and opening of the pouch at the top thereof. In order to maintain this arrangement, transport systems have been designed for a single width pouch to assure that spacing between the side seams is maintained with precision. Also, this type of transport system is also limited to the transport of freely suspended smaller pouches, i.e., pouches that are not of considerable length, when measured along the lateral edges, because the holding clamps must be designed in a complex manner to permit the pouches to be securely held, filled, sealed, etc. Accordingly, a transport system that provides for the ability to transport pouches of varying widths and heights without losing the efficiency of known clamping assemblies would be desirable.